Background

The Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) project is managed by UNDP in support of elections and more broadly, the deepening of democracy in Nigeria. It is funded with contributions from The European Union, the UK Department for International Development (DfID), UNDP, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The project duration is 2010-2015. It aims to consolidate and advance democratic governance and accountability in Nigeria to achieve the country’s stated development priorities and outcomes as specified in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP).
 
These objectives are pursued through four components:
  • Promoting Credible, Transparent and Sustainable Electoral Processes
  • Improving the Democratic Quality of Political Engagement
  • Enhancing Participation by Women, Youth and other marginalized groups
  • Strengthening Channels of Civic Engagement.
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Project Director, the Reporting and Communications consultant will provide technical support to the DGD project in designing its communication and publication strategies and drafting its periodic reports with a view to sensitizing stakeholders on the project’s objective; to influence the development agenda; to promote public and media outreach; and to mobilize political and financial support for the Project. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:
Capture and extract best practices, good stories from programme evaluations and reports:
  • Extract critical lessons learned and good practices from final evaluation reports, and other useful reports for dissemination and knowledge sharing with programme colleagues.
  • Pull information together on selected topics and package it for reports, talking points and briefing papers, when requested.
Develop a logical, coherent and consistent documents for the DGD project including presentations, newsletters, and reports as required by the Project Director:
  • Support the editing and production of funder reports, newsletters through the effective combination and management of reporting frameworks to multiple donors and the government of Nigeria.
  • Prepare substantive reports and written contributions for various purposes, including inputs for the DGD Annual Report, periodic donor reports, speeches and newsletters, and other DGD publications.
  • Review/edit technical and non-technical publications, posters and communication materials for the DGD project
  • In consultation with the Project Director, produce professional documents as needed ensuring clear and compelling messaging, with appropriate technical design and layout
Design a visibility plan for DGD in line with the UNDP corporate policy, with a view to reflecting partners’ support in all DGD activities.
Design reporting templates for DGD programme staff including a back to office reporting template; programme update reporting template and templates for sharing lessons learnt and best practices.
Deliverables for the assignment:
The expected deliverables include:
  • Production of periodic DGD visibility materials and publications;
  • Production of periodic newsletters and funder reports including the DGD 2012 Annual report.
Supervision:
Strategic guidance and supervision will be provided by the DGD Project Director
 

Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • At least a Master's degree in communications, media relations, journalism, publishing or any related field
Experience:
  • At least 7 years relevant experience in public relations, communications or advocacy;
  • Excellent communication and drafting skills are mandatory
  • Previous experience with a multilateral or international organization is helpful but not mandatory;
  • Progressively responsible work experience in democratic governance, including electoral issues is an added advantage;
  • Ability to prepare high quality policy briefs, analytical reports, and technical research reflecting global good practice in democratic governance.
  • Excellent PC user skills: word processing, spreadsheets, databases and web-based research.
  • Ability to work harmoniously with people from different cultural backgrounds.
Language Requirements:
  • Strong skills in written communications in English particularly in preparing issue-based papers or reports.
  • Excellent spoken English is also required.
Note:

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Interested individual contractors must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications alongside their proposal:
  • Proposal:
  • Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work
  • Provide a detailed methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work
  • Implementation Plan and Timelines
  • Past experience in carrying out similar assignment with verifiable evidence i.e. reference with detail contacts
  • All proposals must be submitted alongside signed cover letter.
  • Personal CV including past experience in similar projects with detailed contacts relating to the project and at least 3 references
  • Financial proposal
  • Lump sum contracts
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. Your financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum.
All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. All travels shall be refunded by UNDP at economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she shall do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets (economy class), lodging and terminal expenses shall be paid at UNDP rate.
Individual Contractors responding to this request for Individual Contractors should use the Price Schedule in Annex 1 below in their submission:
  • Selection Criteria
  • Cumulative analysis
The evaluation Criteria as shown below shall be used to evaluate all the proposals received. The award of the Individual Contractors Contract shall be made to the individual contractors whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
  • Technical Criteria weight; [70]
  • Financial Criteria weight; [30]
Only candidates that obtain a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. The maximum 30 points all be allotted to the lowest bid, all other bids shall receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest fee e.g. [30 Points] x [Naira lowest] / [Naira other] = points for other proposer’s fees
Selection Criteria
Education 10points
At least 7 years relevant experience in public relations, communications or advocacy 30points
Ability to prepare high quality policy briefs, analytical reports, and technical research reflecting global good practice in democratic governance 30points
Financial proposal 30
TOTAL 100points